Mexico

We publish this interview with Mexican workers in struggle which was
conducted by members of the CWI in Latin America for our Spanish web
page mundosocialista.net.
We are sure that this interview will be of interest to our readers, but
it does not necessarily fully reflect the ideas and programme of the CWI.

Socialist World (SW): Could you introduce your organisation to our
readers?

LVR: The Independent and Democratic Union Coalition (COSID) is today a
small organisation of the masses that has won the respect of a sector of
union activists because of the seriousness of our work. In our daily
interventions, we try to use the scientific method. Dialectical
materialism allows us to explain the process of change not only on a
global scale, but also in our country, to understand where we come from,
where we are, and where we are headed. We are part of the resistance of
the social movements of urban and rural workers who refuse to allow the
victories we inherited from our grandfathers to be stolen from us. We
are descendents of the rural and urban workers, who in 1910, tired of
the misery which their families lived in, utilized the extreme measure
of armed violence and began the Mexican revolution which generated a
social reorganization that reduced the extreme misery caused by the
capitalists and large-landowners.

As a result of the revolution, our grandfathers passed down to us the
basic rights which are written in the Constitution. It is this
inheritance from our grandfathers which the gang of capitalists, starved
for power and wealth, want to rob from us through the coalition of five
neoliberal parties led by the PAN and others such as the
PRI-PVEM-PANAL-PSD) which is badly governing México by calling for
structural reforms, which in reality are the orders of the IMF and the
World Bank.

SW: What is the current political and social situation in México?

LVR: Neoliberalism promotes, throughout the entire world, a new
distribution of the social wealth in favor of the capitalists. Mexico is
no exception. For that reason they are compelled to eliminate
constitutional rights, labor rights, privatize social security, raise
taxes and impose new “voluntary” contributions on workers to cover
education and health services, public works, etc. The neo-liberal gang
in government uses tax money on programmess that only benefit the
bosses, stripping the subsidies to workers so that the wealth-starved
rich don’t have to pay taxes for workers’ benefits. They want to change
the laws in order to legalize the privatization of our energy sources,
amongst them oil and gas. We could list a series of assaults just like
this.

The neoliberals and their politicians (PAN-PRI-PVEM-PANAL-PSD) at the
beginning took us by surprise when they modified basic judicial and
constitutional frameworks, eliminating rights which had long been taken
for granted like agrarian subsidies, provoking a massive wave of rural
migrants chasing the “gringo dream”, which today has been transformed
into a nightmare due to the economic crisis which has hardly begun.

SW: Does this mean that the workers have been defeated?

LVR: No, the struggle has just begun. We are part of the resistance. We
are the product of the determined decision of the urban and rural
workers to defend our inheritance. The brutal political offensive
reinforced by the demagogy of almost the entire mass media (t.v., radio,
the press) confused us at the beginning. The absence of a party that
genuinely represents workers prevented an immediate reaction.

But the social discontent grew and the rejection was promoted by the
actions of many politicians and leaders of the PRD (Party of the
Democratic Revolution), which is a multi-class party. Its [presidential]
candidate, López Obrador, won the confidence of our worker brothers who
voted for him. Obrador won the election but was the victim of a
scandalous electoral fraud and stripped of his legitimate victory.

The Obradorista movement is key and has stimulated and reinforced the
resistance. Without being radical, it has made things uncomfortable for
the neoliberal gang and held them in check because millions of citizens
and workers responding to their calls. The honourable position of
Obrador also upsets the right-wing of the PRD which controls the
majority of the party apparatus. This right-wing has already made pacts
with the neoliberal gang to exclude Obradorism from the PRD.

SW: What kind of relationship does LVR have with Obradoristas?

LVR: As an individual, Obrador has won the respect of our worker
brothers. He is the undisputed leader of a powerful movement and he has
declared himself to be in favor of the worker resistance. Many of our
worker brothers participate in their mobilizations, which we view as
correct, although we have differences when it comes to method.

SW: Then is the LVR in the PRD?

LVR: No, we are not in the PRD. The new distribution of the social
wealth has obligated not just urban and rural workers to organize, but
wide sectors of the so-called middle class and intellectuals, who
organize different movements. What we call the resistance is a very wide
movement of which Obrador is one of the undisputed leaders, but the
resistance is much bigger than Obradorismo.

Neither the LVR nor its associated organizations like the
CTyOD-ISSSTE-COSID, are organizations with party affiliation, but we are
also not “ultras” or anti-party sectarians. We invite our worker
brothers to participate in the mobilizations of the general resistance
movement and we promote a unified front; and we consider it a grave
mistake to place conditions on our participation in the actions of the
general resistance movement.

SW: How has the financial and economic crisis which began in the U.S.
impacted Mexico?

LVR: It is just beginning and unemployment is growing, salaries are
shrinking, the bosses are blackmailing and imposing production stoppages
which mean working half days for half pay. The cost of living is
growing, and the slow return of hundreds of thousands of migrant
workers, for whom the “gringo dream” (the hope of a better life in the
USA – editors) was transformed each day into a nightmare, has begun.

SW: What is the current situation of the Mexican working class?

LVR: For decades, urban and rural workers endured the corporate control
of the PRI governments. The peasants in the CNC, the workers with their
“cowbody” leaders and the treasonous leaders of the CTM, FSTSE, SNTE,
etc.

Today, for wage workers, the neoliberals are imposing a new form of
control, they are converting the “cowboy” leaders into executives.
Today, they bring them onto the directive boards of the pension and
housing funds, Pemex (the state oil company), etc.

SW: Could you give us an example of the how the neoliberals control the
unions?

LVR: There are many examples: Elba Ether Gordillo, known as “mom of
Chucky” (the diabolical doll). Accused of murder by the teachers,
repudiated by the majority of workers, she is propped up illegally by
the neoliberal government at the SNTE, a union of more than one million
education workers. She controls at will the union dues which are
estimated to be worth more than a billion pesos ($100 million dollars)
each year. And even though she’s the leader of the teachers’ union, her
son-in-law is the sub-secretary of education, in other words, a
representative of the bosses. She was awarded the registry of a
political party (PANAL), and a number of her underlings occupy key posts
in the government (ISSSTE, national lottery, etc) And today, with the
social security reforms (ISSSTE), the leaders of the largest unions are
executives of the pension program (Pensiónssste) and the housing fund
with salaries in the millions. Another example is the “cowboys” of the
oil union who hold positions in the new Pemex administration, and of
course have millionaire salaries.

SW: Does this mean the unions are defeated?

LVR: Yes, it’s a defeat, but of the corporate unions, which may well be
the majority which is in retreat but it’s not the entire organized
working class. In politics there are no positions left unfilled. While
the control of the union “cowboys” recedes and is substituted by a new
“white” syndicalism, union resistance grows and strengthens at a
combined and uneven pace. We are part of this active resistance.
Together with the independent and democratic unions, emerging mass
movements appear, like the ResISSSTE from Chihuahua, the ResISSSTE from
Baja California Norte. Strikes or boycotts have exploded in Morelos,
Guerrero, Campeche, etc.

The resistance of the millions who are tired of the lies, the
corruption, frauds, exploitation, and misery grows and we’ve decided to
stop the capitalists and like our grandfathers, propose a new social
reorganization.

SW: What are the perspectives for the worker and socialist movement in
Mexico?

LVR: The neoliberal gangs attack rural and urban workers to impose a new
distribution of the wealth. The economic crisis increases the problems
and the social discontent. For that reason, the political organization
of the working class is so urgently necessary. A unified front built by
the grass roots is also urgently necessary. The diverse organizations
and political tendencies are being forced to prove themselves in action.
The patient but determined work of the resistance movement will be
decisive and will determine the final result. The objective conditions
exist, the method is there, only the objective factor is lacking.

SW: What do you guys propose to workers?

LVR: In 1910, our grandfathers had more than enough decisiveness, but
they ultimately conformed to guarantees for basic legal rights. Today,
time has taught us that it’s not enough to reorganize society and
guarantee our rights through the law. We should completely reorganize
society and prepare our worker brothers to rescue our country.
Substitute the bosses’ government that exists today and protects the
neoliberal gang with a government of rural and urban workers, a
government for workers, the only guarantee that there will be no turning
back. We should construct a society where there is no greater privilege
than to work, one of greater wealth and a solid culture. In LVR, we have
complete confidence that the human being will overcome capitalist
individualism, we are confident that we will defeat obscene dog-eat-dog
individualism. Science tells us this, the evolution continues and
nothing stops it, the homosapien will impose the definitive victory of
the common good and of social justice.

SW: Where can we find more information about the struggle of the LVR,
and the advances and setbacks of the Mexican resistance?

LVR: We invite everybody to visit our website, www.lavozdelaresistencia.org,
and to send us information about the resistance in other countries.